Maryland women’s lacrosse midfielder Zoe Stukenberg is not a big fan of breakfast food.
When the Terps have a team meal at Bagel Place before every home game, as has been the case each of the last few seasons, Stukenberg usually goes “right for the lunch sandwich.” Freshman midfielder Jen Giles, who is new to the tradition, always requests a sausage, egg and cheese wrap.
The team exchanges order numbers, so each player has a number resembling their own jersey number. Then, the Terps deliver the order associated with their jersey number to the player who ordered it.
It’s a tradition that gets the No. 1 Terps excited and gives them energy for that day’s game, Giles said. Coach Cathy Reese hopes to see that jubilation carry onto the field Sunday when Maryland plays in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals against No. 12 Massachusetts with the hopes of advancing to the final four.
“We talked a lot last week about renewing our energy and enthusiasm heading into the NCAA tournament,” Reese said, “because sometimes we score a goal and we’re like ‘Yeah, alright, there we go again.'”
The Terps (20-0) boast the nation’s best offense, which averages more than 15 goals per game. They’ve been held to fewer than 15 scores only seven times this season.
In their second-round win over Johns Hopkins, the Terps held an 8-3 lead at halftime and finished the game with 14 goals.
A day before the victory, however, Reese held a team meeting to discuss the importance of remaining composed and staying in the present. She did not want her team to get caught up in the fact it had won the program’s first Big Ten Tournament championship a week earlier.
“I just wanted to make sure we were able to get our feelings out,” Reese said. “I said to these guys ‘it’s not like something we haven’t been able to do for 10 years. We didn’t win one the first year.'”
Stukenberg said the Terps had one their best team warm-ups of the season before the game against the Blue Jays. In the locker room, no one let final exams or upcoming summer vacations distract them from what they were trying to accomplish on the field.
“Everyone was just thinking about how this was our 60 minutes to send a message,” Stukenberg said. “We said ‘this could be our last 60 minutes to play great lacrosse so let’s give it all we got.’ It’s amazing what team energy like that can do.”
Maryland has won 50 consecutive games at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, and the current senior class hasn’t lost a game in College Park.
And after their final breakfast of the season at Bagel Place, the Terps will look to extend that streak and advance to the national semifinals in Philadelphia.
“Sometimes, there’s always a lull in the season where you’re just trying to keep fighting,” Giles said. “We have to keep going full steam ahead and the only way to keep going is getting excited for each other and celebrating our victories.”
